My Mom's Back... - Pain Management Message Board

Duckei · 08-13-2004, 08:32 PM

my poor mom seems to have been having back troubles lately. Today was especially bad. She says she has a sore muscle in her lower back that's causing her trouble. It was pretty bad today... it got so bad that her Bayer asprin pills didn't work, she could barely move or get out of bed, and she was crying.

About a month ago she sprained a muscle in her back and had ot stay in the bed for a while. We tried two days of ice packs and then 2-3 days of heating pads and that seemed to work, but now I think it is even worse.

I wanted to ask if there were any medicines that any of you take that seem to work. Maybe Icy-Hot patches will work for her or maybe a different kind of pain killer... or maybe her arthritis has something to do with it?

Any advice would be appericiated!

Kissa · 08-13-2004, 09:47 PM

You didn't indicate if your mother suffers from daily pain or just intermittent or if she is on any medications at all. Also, you didn't indicate if she's currently being treated by a specialist for her back.

Most of the medications individuals on this board take are for long term useage and often quite strong as many have suffered from very chronic pain for years.

If she does have arthritis then being on an anti-imflamatory will help her. As far as non prescription medicines she can try allieve which is an OTC anti-imflamatory or the various others like aspirin, acetominophen etc.
The heat pads that stick to you do help fairly well with back pain, I use them quite often, especially if my back is tense. Also having someone massage it gently can bring her a bit of relief. Believe it or not but the the OTC meds for menstrual cramps actually helps with mild back pain, she might want to give it a try.

If she finds she isn't getting any or little relief from OTC medications then she should talk to her primary care doctor and get their advice on what type of specialist she may need, if any at all. She may need to have an Xray or MRI to determine if there is a problem and then from that point decide what she needs to do. You may find that they will start her on some physical therapy and then go from there. If it's something severe, like a major herniation then they might consider surgery only after several other options are tried first.

If medications are prescribed if it is truly needed it seems that most doctors will put you on an anti-imflamatory, muscle relaxor or a mild pain pill and see how things go from there.

Duckei · 08-13-2004, 10:06 PM

she doesn't suffer from daily pain and she says it is a flare-up. She says it might be arthritis and she said after it rained that she felt a LOT better. The heating pads haven't been seeming to work for her flare-ups, but we will try the menstrual cramp medications. If that doesn't seem to work then I guess we will have to see a doctor.

Also, she says she has muscle spasms and it feels like contractions in her back or like someone is squeezing her sore muscle, and she wants to know if there is a way to relieve it.

P.S- no, she doesn't see a specialist, and she doesn't have a doctor.

Flycatcher · 08-14-2004, 07:06 AM

I fully agree with everything Kissa has already said so I'm just adding to that: For an OTC pain reliever, I've had the best results from Momentum. The active ingredient is magnesium salicylate and most chain stores offer their own brand of this formula at a more reasonable price, neither my wife or I were able to tell any difference between them (at least as far as the Walgreen's brand). That was always my preferred back pill for strained muscles before I herniated the disc and had to involve my doctor. As Kissa said, Aleve (naproxen sodium) works well for some people so it might be worth a try as well. It can be hard on the stomach and liver though so make sure your mom doesn't take more than what's recommended on the packaging. That too is available in some chain stores under their own brand, it's sort of like non-prescription generic drugs and the savings can be really helpful.

Give the Momentum or Aleve a try and possibly ibuprofen to see if that works. As for topical treatments: Capsaicin HP (sp?) cream has worked well for me on my shoulder pain but the one time I tried it on my knees the pain it caused was so bad I was almost in tears. I had to wash my legs with soap and water three or four times during the night before I could even stand to have a sheet touching them - be very, very careful if you try that and start with the smallest amount possible. Something my PM clinic's physical therapist suggested to my wife is BioFreeze gel. It's sort of like Icy-Hot except it goes on cold and never heats up. I like that much better for my back, leg and shoulder pains and that strong minty smell goes completely away after about 15 minutes. It can be really hard to find locally (we've only found one area store that sells it) so you might have to call around or order it over the internet if you want to try it.

Good luck with your mom's pain level and please consider Kissa's advice about medical care, that's exactly what I would've recommended myself.
Jack